Career!
|plot = The episode starts with a flashback of Yui in kindergarten, watching a turtle while singing the children's song Usagi to Kame. Her friend Nodoka calls her to come to the main group since it is about to go on without Yui. Back in the present, Yui is seen thinking intensely while sitting in front of a paper. Nodoka shows up and scolds her since the paper, which turns out to be Yui's career plan, is not filled out yet. Yui, daunted by the difficult task, tries to defend herself with her aimlessness about the future. Nodoka warns her once more that she might end up as a NEET at this rate. Despite being shocked by the possible future of becoming a NEET at first, Yui begins to accept it after further thinking about the issue without success. After Nodoka stopped her, Yui inquires Nodoka's choice of university which turns out to be a national university. Yui writes down the same, just to be stopped again. At the same moment, the rest of the Light Music Club's seniors, Mio, Ritsu and Tsumugi, show up to see what's wrong. Yui asks Mio about what she wrote down on her career plan, to which Mio replies that she is about to ask the school for a recommendation, a privilege that is only entitled to the school's best students, gaining them the opportunity to skip the entrance test of a university. After hearing about it, Yui is about to write down the same, only to be stopped once again since she does not even know what a recommendation is. Yui then asks Tsumugi about her choice, which is the J. Women's University, an evidently respectable university which quickly became Yui's next "choice", but Nodoka prevents her from writing it down once more. Yui then asks Mugi if it is difficult to get in that university, to which Mugi responds by giving her a book which contains sample admission exams. Much to Yui's and Ritsu's shock, the book contains English, leading them to declare that they won't need English for their future, praising the Japanese language. As they take pride in their statement, Mio interrupts their fun by reminding them that they need to know some English to graduate. To calm the two down, Mugi tells them that one can make up for it by passing other exams like classic literature. Yui passes it on to Ritsu who happily declares that she never studied something like it in school, just to be corrected by Mio. Tsumugi reminds her of the song Japanese students learn to remember their language's auxiliary verbs and Yui, who remembers it, sings it albeit being unsure what it is about. Afterwards, Yui asks Ritsu about her choice, which is "undecided". Yui, thrilled by the idea, writes down the same before declaring alongside Ritsu that a piece of paper can't decide their future. At the same moment, their class teacher Sawako Yamanaka, over the intercom, summonses the two to the faculty office immediately. Depressed, the two head towards the office while Nodoka and Mio start talking about the troubles the two gave them in the past. Mugi, excited about the rare occasion, asks them to continue the conversation inside of the Light Music Club's room. Having arrived there, they are greeted by Azusa who was busy feeding the club's turtle Ton. She notes that the announcement earlier was meant for Yui and Ritsu and asks about the meaning behind it. Mugi explains and after serving tea like usual, Mio and Mugi ask Nodoka about the past she shared with Yui together. Nodoka tells them that it was back in kindergarten when they first met. At that day, Nodoka was busy drawing an apple until Yui came to her, trying to eat the crayon Nodoka was using since Yui thought it would be as delicious as the drawn apple looked like. Nodoka managed to stop her from eating the crayon and since then, the two became inseparable. Azusa asks Nodoka if Yui gave her a lot of trouble in the past, to which Nodoka recalls many blunders Yui made, usually during group activities, like forgetting the octopus for the takoyaki her group was preparing. After telling the others about it, Nodoka mentions that Yui has gotten better at certain things since she became a member of the Light Music Club, thanking the club members in the same sentence. Meanwhile, Yui and Ritsu are being scolded by Sawako inside of the faculty office. Ritsu asks her about her past motives to become a teacher and, at first, Sawako resists telling them but eventually gives in. She tells them that the boy she liked back then was about to become a teacher, so she imitated him, but was later rejected. Yui and Ritsu cheer her up by saying that all that matters is what is in the present. Yui, however, wears her down again by noting that Sawako has no boyfriend in the present either. After Yui and Ritsu arrive at the clubroom, Ritsu delivers an unusually deep speech which surprises the rest. Since her career plan was rejected, Yui starts thinking about what she might like to become in the future again. Nodoka reminds her about her dream of becoming a kindergarten teacher which leads Ritsu telling a story of Mio's past. At first, Mio wants to stop her, but she is completely outnumbered, so Ritsu continues the story. The story starts with Mio and Ritsu's first meetings during elementary school. Ritsu, interested in Mio who was a lot shyer than in the present, started to pick on her whenever she saw her opportunity. Mio, getting angry when hearing about the old days again draws the kanji for "eye" (目) on Ritsu's forehead as punishment and continues telling the story. One time, the class had to write a composition and Mio's was that good that it won a prefectural award, meaning she had to read it in front of the entire school. This fact greatly depressed her due to her shyness. As Mio was walking home, Ritsu showed up, trying to cheer her up by admiring her success. Mio however snapped for a short moment which led Ritsu to become fully interested in the whole case. Ritsu dragged Mio to Ritsu's home to help her practice speaking. After Mio struggled with it, Ritsu mimicked a pineapple to calm Mio down which actually worked. Mio's reading passed without problems and since then, the two became mutual friends. Thinking back, Mio stated that there were certainly very few benefits she gained from the friendship except of that one case, bringing Ritsu to verge of tears. After being scolded by Yui, she calms down a bit and says that she still appreciates the fact that Ritsu introduced her to music, gaining pure adoration from the others. Irritated, Mio reminds the others that they should not talk about the past but rather about Ritsu's and Yui's future. The others agree and propose many different kinds of professions, but nobody can imagine Yui working in these jobs due to various reasons. Nodoka then reminds her that it could be anything she can think of, giving Yui a great idea. Together with Ritsu, she rushes towards the faculty office to show it to Sawako, who rejects it right away. Back at the clubroom, the rejected idea is revealed to be becoming a musician, finishing Nodoka who starts laughing like a maniac. In the evening at the Hirasawa household, Yui asks her younger sister, Ui, about her future plans. Ui, too embarrassed to tell her that she wants to go wherever Yui goes to, lies to her that she did not think about it. She is shocked to hear that Yui is as clueless as Ui supposedly is. The next day at school, Yui asks the other students of her class about their choices. After consulting some of them, she is even more confused than before and tries a desperate attempt to get Sawako's approval by writing down that she will "do the best she can". which is unsurprisingly rejected as well, ending the episode. }} Category:K-ON!! Episodes